WASHINGTON Thousands of miners from Kentucky and other coal-producing states, joined by some members of Congress, rallied at the Capitol on Tuesday to demand an end to what they described as an Obama administration “war on coal.”

“I hope somebody hears it, man,” said Will Stevens, 24, an Ohio County, Ky., miner for 1 1/2 years. He and fellow miner John Russell, 23, of Providence, Ky., wore black sweatshirts emblazoned with “Pick Coal” in white letters.

“I’d like to have a future in it,” said Russell, who has been mining for two years. “There isn’t a member of my family who isn’t a miner — except my sister.”

The two Kentuckians, like most of the other miners and their families at the rally, rode buses through the night to the nation’s capital — many making their first visits — to deliver their message, as one sign put it, to “Free America and the Coal Miner.”

The rally came as a House panel held a hearing on the impact that new restrictions on coal-fired power plants being issued by the federal Environmental Protection Agency are having on coal communities.

At the rally, coal-friendly lawmakers like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., lambasted President Barack Obama and the new restrictions.

“A war on coal is a war on all of Kentucky,” declared McConnell, who is running for re-election in 2014. “Without coal, America would be in the dark, and we’re not going to let that happen.”

But environmental groups countered Tuesday that the coal industry historically has failed to address the pollution it causes and the climate change the pollution is spurring.

Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, noted in her blog that “coal industry lobbyists and House Republicans have chosen to spend the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy trying to block climate action and help the polluters who release the largest amount of global warming pollution in our nation.”

Many analysts also contend that the domestic coal industry is being challenged less by regulations and more by tough competition from cheaper natural gas and increasing use of renewable fuels.

“Natural gas is cheaper, wind is cheaper, and in some places solar is now cheaper than coal,” said Mary Ann Hitt, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “It’s time for the industry to stop pointing fingers and start solving problems. The world is changing. People want clean energy, people are worried about climate change, and we have to tackle these problems head-on.”

Coal-fired plants generate about 37 percent of the nation’s electricity, down from 42 percent just two years ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Kentucky, third in the nation in coal production, gets 94 percent of its power from coal-fired plants; that source accounts for 89 percent of electric power in Indiana, ranked eighth in coal production.

While some Democrats from coal states also addressed the rally, it was dominated by GOP lawmakers who attacked the White House’s policies. And rally attendees were noticeably hostile to Obama. Many carried signs calling for the president’s impeachment. Another common sign was “No Obama. Yes Coal.”

McConnell accused Obama of creating a depression in Eastern Kentucky, where the coal industry is the primary source of jobs but has been laying off miners. “The war is under way,” the senator said. “But we intend to fight back.”

“The president says he’s for a balanced approach. Hogwash,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is mulling a 2016 presidential run and is pushing for legislation that would require all major agency regulations to be subject to congressional approval.

Bill Bissett, president of the Kentucky Coal Association, said the state’s loss of 6,000 mining jobs in the last couple of years has had a ripple effect, costing thousands of more jobs throughout the state and region.

With its regulations, the Obama administration is enacting a “de facto ban” on new coal-fired power plants, he said, adding that threatens the low-cost electricity that gives Kentucky a competitive advantage.

Meanwhile, the EPA is ignoring the concerns of the coal regions, going so far as to avoid holding any public hearings on its carbon pollution regulations for existing power plants in cities in or near coal-producing areas, he said.

The EPA responded Tuesday that coal is not under threat.

“Every projection and model makes clear that coal will continue to be the largest single source of electricity for decades,” EPA spokesman Alisha Johnson said.

“Instead, the proposal ensures a clear path forward for a continued diverse energy mix, relying on available technologies that are practical, flexible, and achievable,” Johnson said.

In opening remarks during the House hearing on the EPA regulations’ impact, Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight and investigations subcommittee, said that coal plants weren’t closing because of competition with natural gas, but rather “because the EPA refuses to work out solutions to help coal move forward to be even cleaner than it already is.”

“These plants are closing because the EPA makes it impossible to comply with agency standards,” he said.

Bell County, Ky., Judge Executive Albey Brock said in prepared testimony that coal job losses have taken $1 billion annually out of Eastern Kentucky’s economy.

“Many Eastern Kentuckians are leaving their homes, their communities and their families to work in other parts of the country,” Brock said. “What does the future of our region hold for those that remain?”

But Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, a member of the panel, said coal industry employment in Kentucky began dropping 30 years ago — from 47,000 in 1977 to 12,000 today — due to the increase in mechanized mining and mountaintop removal.

Only the coal companies have profited, while communities languished, Yarmuth said.

He added that people in Kentucky care about more than the costs of their electric bills.

“They’re interested in their health and the harm mountaintop removal mining is doing to their families, friends and neighbors,” Yarmuth said.

And people living downwind from power plants are being hurt, too, he said, citing a study showing that one in five adults and one in 10 children in Kentucky suffer from asthma, which is exacerbated by carbon pollution.